France: industrialization index 1815-1975
country's richest mining regions.
Compared with the other major European powers of the 19th and 20th century, France's industrialization was comparatively slow. In global history, the period between 1815 and 1914 is often referred to as the Pax Britannica; a time where Britain emerged as the leading superpower and relations between the Great Powers was very peaceful, allowing many Western European countries to undergo industrial revolutions. In France, however, the term "industrial revolution" was less applicable, as it remained a fairly agricultural society; transportation infrastructure was poor, and large urban centers made their money through banking, shipping, and artisanal production. It was only during the 1840s, where France's railway network developed, that urbanization and industrialization began to take off, but it still lagged behind Britain, Germany, and Belgium for the remainder of the century. The loss of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany in 1871 significantly hindered France's industrialization, as it was one of the